WHAT SIN DOES IN A BELIEVER'S LIFE - PART 2

Romans 6 tells every Christian very clearly how they should live after they receive Christ into their lives. ”What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? “. This is the key verse. ”For sin shall not have dominion over you” That’s it in a nutshell! Before a person gets born again, sin has dominion over them and they can not help but to sin,it is their nature. But the child of God is free from that dominion, to decide for themselves if they are going to sin or not! 

Let me tell you what sin does to you as a child of God if that sin is not confessed and every effort is made to turn away from it. James 1:14-15 says…”But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Yes, even death! God loves His Children, but He commands that we obey Him and He has every right to do that! Your sin will not change your position as God’s child, but it will hurt and change your relationship with Him if you are not walking in a spirit of repentance. And some Christian have made an early flight home because of their lifestyles according to the book of Revelation. 

The Christian life is really a walking thing, it’s about walking in a spirit of repentance and that simply means that you’re struggling and fighting with every ounce in you to do the right thing, hating the old fleshly nature in you while longing to please the new nature that is pulling you to do the right thing.

There is an old story about an Indian who got saved. He told his missionary friend that there was a war going on inside of him. The black (or bad) dog was fighting the white (or good) dog, he said. When the missionary asked him, which dog was winning, the old Indian man told him, “whichever one I feed the most.” So, it is with every Christian as well. We will have these battles as long as we live. But we can learn to control that flesh in us and allow our spiritual nature to thrive if we feed on God’s Word, obey what is says and neglect to feed our fleshly nature.

Sin if not dealt with correctly will control your life, wreck your home, sear your conscience, destroy your testimony, hinder your witness for Christ, zap your spiritual power, choke your fruitfulness that you are meant to bear, steal your joy, prevent and hinder your prayers, damage your health and as I said earlier, can shorten your life. The Scripture tells us that whom the Lord loves He chastens in Hebrew 12:5-7. When a Christian sins, they break fellowship and lose spiritual power in their lives to walk according to their calling. It is only through repentance, that God forgives and restores us to walk in the light and power that we are called to walk in.

Remember, sin no longer has dominion over you and if you sin, it will be your choice. Place your spirit on a constant diet of the Word of God, get in fellowship with other believers and you will starve, or put to death the flesh that lingers in you to draw you away from what is best for you.

Romans 8 tells us that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The way to victory is not by your own power, but by His power released in you as you walk in obedience to him.

Hold Fast,

-Bren

WHAT SIN DOES IN A BELIEVER'S LIFE - PART 1

Joshua 24:15 say’s, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” May I ask that question of you today? Have you made that choice yet, and chosen the path that you will take to do your spiritual walking on? If you have not planned that yet, may I suggest one?

I John 2:6 says this about the Christian’s walk, “He who says he abides in Him (Jesus) ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Walking in Christ is not always easy. But it is possible! However, when a Christian sins, they break fellowship with God until that wrong is made right through confession and repentance. When we sin, it's like disconnecting ourselves from the power source that allows His light in us to shine and enables us to live like we ought to.

The saddest thing that I have ever seen in my life is a person who claims that they are a Christian, yet has no evidence in their life that reflects that claim. God's word tells us that it will be by their fruit, that they shall be known as well as their love for one another.

Before a person becomes a Christian, they have one nature and that is, their flesh. Romans 7:8 tells us that in the flesh dwells no good thing. The scripture teaches us that after we are saved God gives us His Holy Spirit that not only seals us in our salvation but provides us with a new nature that guides and empowers us to live accordingly!

The Bible tells us that after salvation we have two natures that war with each other inside us.  Our fleshly nature and our new spiritual nature. It is that war that becomes the Christian’s toughest battle. The reason is that, as our new nature wants nothing but to please God; the old nature, which is the flesh, wants nothing else but to do what pleases the flesh. For this reason the Christian struggles within themselves to always do the right thing, according to Galatians 5:1. However, the fact that you are struggling not to sin is one indication that you have the Holy Spirit in you and that you are truly born again.

Suppose you are in a boat sailing along when you notice two women in the water. One of which is struggling to stay afloat while the other is lying face down in the water, her body limp and lifeless. It’s obvious that these two women are in trouble. You take a life preserver, tie it to a rope, and throw it to them. It lands just a few feet short. You start yelling and yelling for them to grab the life preserver so that you can pull them in. "Come on," you yell, "Grab it!" One of the women, exhausted from the struggle of trying to stay afloat, reaches out her arm for the life preserver but falls short. "Grab it!" you yell again. She reaches again and her arm plops down in the water from fatigue. The waves hitting her face as she desperately tries again for the life preserver. The other woman is simply floating face down in the water. She isn't struggling at all. But, the other one is struggling for that life preserver. She is fighting against the ocean, the wind and the waves, all which are greater than she is and is beating her up and wearing her down.

Now, which one of the two women in the water is alive? If you say, The one reaching for the life preserver, then of course you're right! She is struggling for life. She wants that life preserver more than anything. The other woman is dead! Dead people don't struggle for life and spiritually dead people do not struggle against their sin. Only those who are dead and do not struggle have no life in them at all.

I John 2 reminds us that we are not to sin. The goal of every Christian that bears the name of Christ is, to not sin. The fact that you are struggling against your sin is a very good indicator that you are very much alive in Christ. If you were not struggling at all to overcome sin in your life, then I would say you might need to rethink your walk in Christ. 1 John 2 also tells us that, we know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands, verse 4 says that the man who says, "I know Him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the Truth is not in Him". It goes on further to say that whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did. You see, The world and its desires will pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever in verse 17. 

Hold Fast,

-Bren

FINDING YOUR WAY BACK TO GOD

 One of my most favorite pastimes is reminiscing about days gone by. I so often will catch myself in a haze of past nostalgia, longing for another time, another place. Sometimes oddly enough, it is a sort of longing or aching to go back, homesick for a time in my past or even as illogical as it may seem, a time that I never even lived in. Similarly, King David felt the same way at times. He too had his feelings and longings of earlier times as he wrote about them in Psalm 84. David longed and ached in his heart to return to the place where he used to meet with God. He understood that to do so, would be a pilgrimage or journey that would have obstacles and difficulties along the way. Choices that he would have to be willing to make to get there. Yet he was willing to do whatever it took to get him back to the place, his heart longed to be.

Like David, when we desire to return to the place where we once were, in our walk or relationship with God, it is our faith that will lead us and allow us to overcome those obstacles until we arrive back to that place and into His arms! You see, it is not the place, the situation or the location where God was real to us that is significant, but only a place of significance, because God was there. 

For Abraham, it was Bethel, for Moses, it was Mt. Sinai, for Zaccahaeus, it was the tree, for Mary it was the ground where she lay with her face down in the dirt, ashamed, broken and needing God’s help. For Jesus it was the Garden of Gethsemane, for Peter, it was when he heard the rooster crow, for Paul, it was the road to Damascus. For King David it was the Temple. For in the Psalms he writes about where he used to meet with God. For whatever reason it was that he had been away from the Lord, he was now expressing his feelings in the language of a poem, longing to return. In David’s day, God’s dwelling place was a place, location, a building, a physical temple. Today, according to Romans 8:9-17, He dwells in the heart of every person that has received Him in their hearts, as Lord and Savior. In the Old Testament, God had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He has a people for His temple.

Longing for God reflects an integrity of our intentions, when we cry out for the living God to return to him and be restored. You see David was not really crying out for the house of God but the living God that dwelt in the house or temple. Ps. 84:2 and Ps. 42:1 express David’s heartfelt desire to go wherever God was and be with the true “Living God”. When a person goes to a courthouse they are not seeking a courthouse but the justice that they are hoping to find there. Same thing with a hospital, it is not the building that you want when you go there, but the healing that you believe you will get once you get there.

Longing for God reveals a desire for intimacy with Him. David’s level of desire for God is reflected in Psalm 84 as he says that his soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the Lord; his heart and flesh cried out that even the sparrow and swallow had found a place of refuge near God’s altar. Oh how he envied those birds, that they were where he once was, close to the lover of his soul.

Do you long to come back to the Lord? Is that longing the most intense in your life? It should be, and it can be! James 4:8 promises that, if we will come near to God, He will come near to us! James 4:7-10 tells us how to come; by submitting ourselves to God resisting or turning away from the things that want to draw us away from Him and as David often times would do (and this is why He was the apple of God’s eye), humble yourselves to God, change your attitude into brokenness over your situation seeing it as God sees it and be willing to do those things, whatever they may be that will restore you and God Himself will lift you up and give you His power to accomplish whatever it is you may need to do, to get to Him.  

Hold Fast,

-Bren

Doing our part in sharing the good news

 Oftentimes I find myself wondering how a past friend that God had placed in my path to disciple and befriend is faring these days. I wonder if they are still in church and if they have continued to grow in the Lord, and follow the encouragement and discipleship that I had invested in their lives. For most of them, I may never know until I get to heaven. For some sadly, I am keenly aware that they fell back or did not make much effort to feed themselves and grow spiritually. And there were some who returned to a life of drugs, other addictions, jail and one who overdosed and died.

My heart has ached over the years for these precious souls that God had placed in my life yet, there was little I could do for them short of sharing the gospel with them, pick them up and take them to church or a doctors appointment, run errands, give them money for gas, food, medicine or simply answer their questions as best I could when they would call to talk or when I visited them.

I bet you have experienced the same thing as you have ministered to others in Jesus' name. We can only do so much, and then we must leave the outcome and increase to the Lord.

The Apostle Paul gave further evidence of his love to the Thessalonian believers, by sending Timothy to check on them when he himself was unable to. Paul felt the pangs of concern for them because he knew that they would be faced with great trials, hardships, struggles, persecution and isolation as they were on their own to practice what he, himself had taught them and warned them that they would be facing.

In his letter to the Thessalonian believers, he told them of his great satisfaction at the return of Timothy, with the wonderful news that Timothy had brought back on their behalf. Early on Paul had concerns about the direction that they might take when they were faced with their spiritual enemy the devil. He was concerned about their isolation from him and how they might fare when they were left alone to work out their own salvations. Paul concluded with a fervent prayer for them at the end of his letter. His greatest concern was not their hardships from these events but how they were standing in their faith to endure them. Paul understood that it was their faith that was truly being challenged and attached. And their real attacker was satan.

This is one of the great lessons of Thessalonians to us all; that God wants us to know that regardless of our situations, trials and hardships, it is the testing of our faith that is most important. Understanding  that it is our faith that is truly being challenged and attached. satan's big plan for us is to destroy our faith.

The scripture says in Hebrews 5:8 that "Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered." This is what Paul was hoping and praying for the church in Thessalonica. Paul knew that once he left them, the enemy would come in behind him and work to destroy their faith through their trials.

He also encouraged them by asking God to increase their love for one another. That their love would even overflow for each other. Paul knew that their strength would come through their faith and numbers with other believers. He wanted them to understand that they needed one another. 

Today, sweet friend, is no different than that of Paul's day. Believer's still need each other as "iron sharpens iron" tells us in Proverbs 27:17. The dying world also needs us to love them and share the good news of hope with them. Upon the Lord's return, may we all be found doing our part in spreading that good news.

Hold Fast,

-Bren

There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness

 The scriptures tell us that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, the son of God and it is by His grace through our faith according to Ephesians 2:8–9, but eternal rewards are based on one's faithful living and service to Christ.

God has promised those that believed and put their trust in Christ special rewards who faithfully served Him on earth according to Revelation 22:12.  Some of those rewards are crowns. These crowns include the imperishable crown in 1 Corinthians 9:24–25, a crown of rejoicing in 1 Thessalonians, a crown of life in James 1:12 - Revelation 2:10 and a crown of glory in 1 Peter 5:4.

These may be the crowns that John saw the elders lay at the feet of Jesus in Revelation 4. In their words of worship, they indicate that, despite what they may have done on earth to earn these crowns, only Jesus is truly worthy of glory and honor.  Likewise, as we stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Himself on that great day, all our best deeds we have done will pale in comparison to Jesus. To present Him our crowns will seem but insignificant gifts to present to the One who gave His life for us.

2 Timothy 4:8, tells us, "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearance."  This great day exhorts us not only to look for, but to love His appearance. You might say it like this; "that we Believers, should be exceedingly excited about His return as our hearts daily long to see Him face to face".

As a born-again believer, we have already received the imputed “gift of righteousness” according to Romans 5:17, by His grace and have been “made the righteousness of God in him” according to 2 Corinthians 5:21. So, this crown of righteousness may very well be like a crown or wreath encircling the head of a victor in a race as a divine appreciation for a godly life lived in daily anticipation of the Lord’s return.

To love His appearing means to live in the light of His coming, to behave as if He were coming today. It means to strive to live as He has told us to and not be entangled with the things of this life. We should set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth according to Colossians:3:2

It means that in our hearts, that we would not want to do anything that we would not want to be found doing when He appears. Our heart's desires are His heart desires. We would not go anywhere that would cause shame at His coming. We would not want to say anything that would be offensive in His presence; and should we disobey and sin, we would be quick to confess and make right that which we disobeyed Him in, as I John Chapter 1&2 instructs us in.

If you knew that Jesus was coming at the end of the month, how would you spend your last days? The crown of righteousness is reserved for those believers who love Him enough to let His truth mold and shape their lives. It is not enough to retain the truth about His coming; the truth must be retained in us.

Hold Fast,

Bren

Learning to hear the voice of God

 One of the first steps in learning to hear God’s voice is to become His child. Becoming a child of God requires faith in Jesus Christ. John 1:12 says, “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God”.

When visited by the religious leader Nicodemus, Jesus did not immediately assure him of heaven even though Nicodemus was a religious man. Instead, Jesus told him in John 3:3, that he had to become a child of God, by saying, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”.

You see, the first time a person is born, he inherits the sin nature that stems from Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. No one has to teach a child how to sin. He naturally follows the inclinations of his inherited human nature from Adam the first man.  He is born with the desire to do wrong. Those wrong desires, leading to such sins as anger, lying, stealing, hating and even killing. While not all people may commit the same sins, the scriptures tell us that if we break one of God's Laws then we are guilty of breaking them all according to James 2:10.

Rather than being a child of God before we are born again, we are in fact children of disobedience and wrath. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." Ephesians 2:1-2. Verse 4-5 says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.”

When a person becomes born again as Jesus spoke about, God quickens their new nature and makes that which was dead in them alive to God's nature. And while that person now has two natures that dwell in them, the old sinful nature that still desires to sin, they now have a new nature that will equip them to overcome these desires to sin. A true child of God will hate sin, and will fight hard against sin. As they develop their relationship with God, they will learn how to put to death the old nature that prompts them to sin (by starving it what it wants) according to Colossians 3:5. The Apostle Paul speaks in great detail about these two natures in the book of Romans. He too struggled with his old and new natures. Paul learned that if he starved the old nature of what it desired and fed the new nature of what it longed for, the one he fed the most would be the one who ruled his heart.

As a child of God develops a habit of daily devotion with Him through the study of His word and prayer, they will learn how to listen and discern what God is saying to them through the process of their getting to know Him and putting off that old nature that is rebellious against God. In order to develop this kind of relationship with God, requires setting aside time each day to read His Word and pray seeking His will in all matters. It is important to be consistent in this practice, as it will train your mind and heart to focus on God throughout the day.

Hold Fast,

Bren

The Cry of desperation and brokenness

 A former survivor of a shipwreck told the story about being washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he would scan the horizon to see if help was coming… but none seemed forthcoming.

Weary of heart and exhausted from gathering his resources to prepare for his grim future, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of some driftwood that was to provide him shelter from the elements, and to store what little possessions he had. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived back at his meager little hut to find it in flames. Oddly, the smoke was rolling up to the sky as if someone were fueling it.

The worst that could have happened, had. Everything was lost. Shocked with grief and anger, he cried out, "God, how could you do this to me!". Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the little island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied!

Discouragement hits it’s hardest when we are already down because of other happenings in our lives. But we should never lose heart, because God is always at work, even right in the midst of the worst of it all. Just remember, that the next time you find your little hut burning to the ground, don’t lose faith! It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace and mercy of God to your needs.

Never let your circumstance dictate your joy sweet friend! You may be shipwrecked due to your current circumstances, but you are never hopeless as long as you have the Lord!  Psalm 18:6 says, "In my distress I called upon the Lord….my  cry came before Him, even to His ears." Your cries will get His attention when they have become cries of sincere brokenness.

Hold Fast,

Bren